I think I'm going to have to start learning to press books because...217 working days ~10.5 months is too long to wait for books to be pressed with uncertain results 7 7

[BEAUMONTS]

Adding insult to injury is getting graded books back with low grades that have pressable defects noticeable after you  paid for and waited on CGC pressing service.

Edited October 29, 2022 by BEAUMONTS

[justafan]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:33 AM, BEAUMONTS said:

Adding insult to injury is getting graded books back with low grades that have pressable defects noticeable after you  paid for and waited on CGC pressing service.

This is among my top reasons for wanting to do it myself.  No one will ever be as satisfied or work as diligently on your book than you will.  At least I can review and put more of the attention back into the book or decide to try a different approach or a different pressing service before submitting.  I know there are very diligent professional pressers out there like Joey do a good job of reviewing each book after a press to see if it needs more work but everyone doing pressing is human, has human faults, emotions, external pressures, and different factors that may prevent the fullest attention in every scenario. That is why I will spend the extra shipping $ to have the books shipped back to me for review before sending it out to get graded. 

[justafan]

On 10/28/2022 at 2:52 AM, NoMan said:

 

Pressing is restoration and you shouldn’t be doing it to begin with. 

I'll take some of the bait.

I agree with your opinion but the industry certification standards have moved on from that position and have left me with little choice in using other services to do it due to their backlog and costs.  Despite the huge hit CGC took to its reputation recently, it is impossible to eliminate the acceptance of pressing from virtually all buying venues.  I commend you for being a purist but that is a struggle I gave up on years ago when I realized that it would be impossible to distinguish all professionally pressed books from unpressed books in the grades I was seeking and no one was providing a certified "unpressed" graded comic product. Though there are telltale signs if a book was not pressed professionally or properly.

I don't think you'll ever need to worry about the books I press.  They are primarily for me and my collection alone.  They are mostly moderns. When they finally hit the market many years in the future (hopefully) you can be assured they were most likely pressed (by me or a professional presser).  Though I'm sure I have some graded books that are unpressed and older raws that I will never plan on pressing.

 

 

[Dr. Balls]

On 10/28/2022 at 12:52 AM, NoMan said:

 

Pressing is restoration and you shouldn’t be doing it to begin with. 

I love this debate.

Pressing is not restoration. I think people get hung up on the term “restoration” and apply it too literally to the process, rather than the industry-established (paper/paintings/books/art) standards of true restoration.

Pressing a comic to make it flatter is no more restorative than washing my classic car to make it shinier. Using water and heat does not introduce unnatural or man-made elements that did not exist in the comic book’s original state.

I’ll leave it at that for a moment, as there’s always room for tons of debate.

[MetalPSI]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:20 AM, Mrs. Tux said:

Pressing is definitely restoration. If you don't think so, you don't (or don't want to) understand restoration 

Explanation would be appreciated 

[MetalPSI]

Seriously, I don't know

[wardevil0]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:41 AM, MetalPSI said:

Seriously, I don't know

You won't get any useful info from mrSTUx

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/1/2022 at 7:58 AM, Dr. Balls said:

I love this debate.

Pressing is not restoration. I think people get hung up on the term “restoration” and apply it too literally to the process, rather than the industry-established (paper/paintings/books/art) standards of true restoration.

Pressing a comic to make it flatter is no more restorative than washing my classic car to make it shinier. Using water and heat does not introduce unnatural or man-made elements that did not exist in the comic book’s original state.

I’ll leave it at that for a moment, as there’s always room for tons of debate.

Pressing is 100% restoration.  Just because CGC doesn’t recognize it as such, doesn’t change a thing.   If a book had a 2” NCB crease & you remove it...you’ve restored the book to its previous state.  The only argument against pressing being resto is 

Edited November 1, 2022 by THE_BEYONDER

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/1/2022 at 7:37 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Pressing is 100% restoration.  Just because CGC doesn’t recognize it as such, doesn’t change a thing.   If a book had a 2” NCB crease & you remove it...you’ve restored the book to its previous state.  The only argument against pressing being resto is 

That’s where the literal term makes it muddy. Adding paper, fixing tears, putting microdots where ink has been stripped away is the restorative process for all other similar mediums.

I 100% see why people think pressing is restoration, in the most basic terms of how the word is used, you are restoring it to a previous state - without adding something that wasn’t originally there. I agree with that.

I don’t subscribe to the restoration process being “pressing” or “dry cleaning”, and I would say that CGC chose that line of thinking by not calling it out as resto. There was a old discussion years ago here on the boards about conservation, and it’s importance of preserving comic books - and in the years since, they added a ‘conservation’ grade, which was great. Conservation and restoration are two different things. Where does pressing fall? Who knows, that’s why it’s always a fun discussion. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/1/2022 at 9:37 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Pressing is 100% restoration.  Just because CGC doesn’t recognize it as such, doesn’t change a thing.   If a book had a 2” NCB crease & you remove it...you’ve restored the book to its previous state.  The only argument against pressing being resto is 

That's not the only argument, don't be obtuse.

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/1/2022 at 10:46 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

That's not the only argument, don't be obtuse.

Only a muppet would argue that pressing isn’t resto.  Of course it is.  It’s become an accepted form of restoration.  CGC had no choice but to allow pressing, as they needed a way to “fix” books that were being damaged by their holder in the very beginning.  You can argue whether or not pressing matters....but there’s no logical argument that puts pressing outside the scope of the restoration label. 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:09 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Only a muppet would argue that pressing isn’t resto.  Of course it is.  It’s become an accepted form of restoration.  CGC had no choice but to allow pressing, as they needed a way to “fix” books that were being damaged by their holder in the very beginning.  You can argue whether or not pressing matters....but there’s no logical argument that puts pressing outside the scope of the restoration label. 

You dropped your hat, sir.

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:13 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

You dropped your hat, sir.

It’s not my fault you don’t understand what restoration is.

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:15 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

It’s not my fault you don’t understand what restoration is.

Have you heard of a false dichotomy? Please let me know what I "don't understand".

[BigLeagueCHEW]

On 11/1/2022 at 8:15 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

It’s not my fault you don’t understand what restoration is.

If I use my fingernail to smooth out a crease on the cover of my comic, I'll note to CGC that I did this and assign a purple label 

[THE_BEYONDER]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:19 AM, theCapraAegagrus said:

Have you heard of a false dichotomy? Please let me know what I "don't understand".

If you understood what  restoration means you wouldn’t say that pressing isn’t restoration.

But you do you.  I can’t be bothered with this circle jerk again

 

 

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

You guys have fun....

 

[theCapraAegagrus]

On 11/1/2022 at 11:24 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

If you understood what  restoration means you wouldn’t say that pressing isn’t restoration.

But you do you.  I can’t be bothered with this circle jerk again

False, I know what restoration is. Pressing isn't comic book restoration.

Oh, and this has nothing to do with "$$" on my end, which is where you were wrong to begin with.

Edited November 1, 2022 by theCapraAegagrus

[KingOfRulers]

It's comforting seeing pressing flame wars live on. It brings me back to the mid-2000's when the arguments on the topic were constant on these boards. Constant and fiery. Cumulatively, there must be hundreds of thousands of individual posts on the topic. It took many years, but the hot topic eventually died down. Seeing it brought back to life here is kind of nice. A look back at a time long past.

Edited November 1, 2022 by KingOfRulers

[Dr. Balls]

On 11/1/2022 at 9:09 AM, THE_BEYONDER said:

Only a muppet would argue that pressing isn’t resto.

The greatest debates in history always start out with name calling. I believe Abraham Lincoln opened with that comment towards Winston Churchill.